[멀티플 다이얼로그] Kang seeks balance in homage

2009.2.9

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The "Multiple Dialogue ?" exhibition at the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Gwacheon will send your eyes spinning.

TV screens form an 18 meter high tower in the center of the room, and the countless colorful squares glued on the walls that surround the tower add to the confusion.

Artist Kang Ik-Joong installed his work "Samramansang," which means "all creations" in Korean, around the "The More The Better," by prominent video artist Paik Nam-june.

"These are the biggest and most representative installation works ever of the two world famous artists," said Lim Dae-geun, curator of the exhibition.

The current exhibition is a sequel to an exhibition of the same name that the artists held at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York in 1994.

However, this exhibition is more like Kang's way of paying homage to late Paik, who was not only his artistic mentor but also someone he most sincerely respected.

Kang told the press on Thursday that he could never forget how considerate and full of insight Paik was.

Before their exhibition at the Whitney Museum, Paik sent an e-mail to the museum saying '"I am very flexible. It is important that Ik-Joong has the better space."

"He was a shaman who sees stars even in daylight," Kang reminisced.

Influenced by Paik, Kang himself also became an acclaimed artist. Even those who do not recognize his name right away would probably have seen the glowing wall filled with moon jar paintings covering the construction site of Gwanghwamun since 2007. It is Kang's art piece named "Mountain-Wind (Dream of Kwang Hwa)."

For "Samramansang," Kang covered the 200 meters long spiral wall around Paik's masterpiece with 60 thousand works and little objects. He used various videos, sounds, media, and objects to create "all creations" possible.

"It occurred to me that Paik Nam-june wanted to make the TV tower look like a rocket," Kang said, pointing to Paik's work.

"As his junior, I felt it was my responsibility to light it up, help it shoot through the sky."

According to Kang, his work is supposed to be a mountain. So naturally, the best way to absorb it is to climb up.

"Viewers can see the 'Samramansang' we encounter while we climb a mountain," Kang explained.

Birds chirp, water flows, and recordings of monks chanting sutra play from tiny moon jars installed on the walls. A yellow moon made from a glow lamp shines through an old wash basin, and lights streak down from a waterfall made of white LED lights.

"As Paik's video tower heads upwards, I tried to even things out by making a waterfall that goes down. And because Paik's videos pulse quickly, I made mine breathe slowly," said Kang.

Kang made efforts to make his work to balance, mix and communicate with Paik's works "like bibimbap," as Paik used to say when referring to his art.

The exhibition runs until Feb. 7, 2010 at National Museum of Contemporary Art in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province. Admission is free. The museum is closed on Mondays. For more information, call (02) 2188-6114 or visit www.moca.go.kr

By Park Min-young

(claire@heraldm.com)

[화가와 달항아리] 'Moon jars' taken into 21st century

2009.1.22

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A person praying or making a wish under a full moon would not make an unusual sight in Korea. The moon has been long part of the Korean spiritual tradition and a symbol of abundance and fortune.

Perhaps with the hope of pulling the moon closer, Korean ancestors made "moon jars" out of white porcelain. The jar's mystical moon-like features, implication of abundance, and the painstaking process of making one continues to inspire many artists today.

Gallery Hyundai Gangnam Space in Sinsa-dong, southern Seoul, has gathered moon jar-themed works of many artists for the exhibition "Artists and Moon Jars," which is currently running at the gallery.

"As it is the beginning of the year, we wanted to start with something very Korean," said Sung Eun-jin, curator of the exhibition, to The Korea Herald.

"Moreover, since the moon jars mean richness, we thought it could give hope that we can overcome the current global economic crisis."

Paintings, photographs and actual moon jars of 16 artists are displayed at the exhibition. Works by famous Korean artists such as Koo Bohn Chang, To Sang Bong, Kim Whanki and Kang Ik-Joong are found there.

Moon jars and paintings stand here and there in the somewhat empty-looking rooms.

"The gallery space is deliberately made to seem rather empty so that viewers can feel the beauty of the void and simplicity, just like the characteristics of the moon jars," said Sung.

While the completed version may seem simple, it is actually very difficult to make a moon jar. One moon jar is made from two ceramic hemispheres glued together.

"So many hemispheres break in the process of making a single jar," said Sung, pointing to a faint line where the top and bottom meets, at one of the jars.

"But once it survives through the rough process and succeeds in becoming a moon jar, it gives off a well-bred, smart look. At the same time, it is filled with mysteries."

One of the many charms about moon jars is the mysterious color. From one angle it looks white but from another, it looks pale pink, similar to the color of human skin. No wonder Koreans compliment ladies with smooth and rosy skin that she has "skin like ceramic."

The glamorous ceramic seems to have inspired artists from long ago.

"Everything about my art comes from white porcelain jars of the Joseon dynasty," the late artist To Sang Bong was often quoted as saying.

Moon jars hold flowers or stand side by side with other objects in his paintings, imbuing a wishful spirit into them.

Kim Whanki, another renowned artist, is well-known to have said that he learned about figurative arts, beauty and his people through ceramics and that "ceramics might be his textbook."

As if to honor the art of ceramics, he included moon jars many times in his paintings -- with flowers, women or even landscapes.

"Foreigners are becoming more and more interested in moon jars, because it is unique, and is so Korean," said Sung. The British Museum in Britain and The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, in the United States, currently possesses sculptor Park Young Sook's moon jars. Park's works are also included in this exhibition.

"Moon jars can be considered as one of the art pieces that express Korean style or thoughts the most intensively."

The exhibition runs through Feb. 10 at Gallery Hyundai Gangnam Space in southern Seoul. For more information, call (02) 519-0800 or visit www.galleryhyundai.com

By Park Min-young

(claire@heraldm.com)